Roadtrips Are Always the Logical Course of Action
by saving private bullshit
Summary: Luke and Michael get a little bit out of hand. Gabriel does what he does best. Castiel worries. destiel and sabriel pre-slash, mutant au.
1. South Dakota

Here, have a mutant au.

If I owned Supernatural or the X-Men universe do you _really think _I'd restrict myself to writing fanfics?

Cas has the tendency to pop up behind Dean out of nowhere in complete silence, which makes working in the hood of a car quite a bit more suspenseful than Dean would like it to be. He still has the scar in his hairline from when Cas started a conversation after appearing and Dean, who had spent the half-hour Cas stood behind him thinking he was alone in the garage, jumped and banged his head and they had to get Bobby to heal him up. Dean is convinced it's a hobby.

But it's not like he hates the guy or anything. He's got good reason to pop in, what with his siblings figuratively and literally trying to kill each other. Cas has never been one for conflict. It makes him nervous, even though he hardly shows it. Those damn Novaks, though, they're fucking Vulcan in their emotional suppression. And when the bottle finally explodes… well. Dean isn't sure he'd like to be around for that.

Today Bobby has him melting down a heap of scrap collected from a thirty-year-old Volkswagen, patched halfway to Hell and back, that finally gave up the ghost. It's pretty early in the morning and nobody's come yet, there's no banged-up cars inside, so he does this sort of thing while they wait. Actually, he waits and Bobby orders him around. Not like it's a bad thing, I mean, he and Dean are practically father and son and Dean loves his job. He wouldn't change anything for the world.

"Hello, Dean."

A glob of molten iron flies by Cas's ear.

"If you're busy I can leave and go elsewhere and return when it is a more opportune time-"

"It's fine, Cas," says Dean, even though he's kind of jumpy right now. "No, Bobby just had me melt some parts, I should be done in a minute and then let's go inside and I can make us some coffee."

So he finished melting while Cas amused himself wandering around and afterwards they went inside. They were out of regular coffee but last time Sam stopped by he left an unopened bag of some hoity-toity shit from some independently-owned organic coffeehouse and it wasn't Dean's fault if he didn't know whether or not it was intended to be a gift. In hindsight Cas could have poofed them to a grocery store but that would scare the locals.

Instead they sit opposite one another at the crappy IKEA kitchen table nursing their mugs of hipster coffee and not saying much. Castiel Novak is… not much one for talking. He's said he prefers to listen to Dean and watch him and other slightly-creepy-slightly-flattering shit like that and Dean is happy to let him, basking in Cas's watchfulness like a cat sunning itself by a window.

Cas asks how business is going, Dean gives him an enthusiastic description of a beautiful T-Bird he'd had the pleasure of fixing up the other day. Perfect condition, all it needed was a new mirror and it was on its way. Dean shoots back his usual question about Cas's family.

Cas doesn't respond right away. He makes a hesitant sound in the back of his throat and stares into his coffee like it holds the secret of being.

"Gabriel left," he said simply. Then he takes a slow sip, and there's more of a story following.

"Michael and Luke were fighting, as per usual. Gabriel happened to walk in and Luke burned him on his leg, and Michael made the power go out."

He meets Dean's eyes tentatively, like he's afraid Dean might do as Luke did (for some reason, this makes Dean want to descend upon the brothers like some avenging angel) and Dean takes his hand from across the table.

"We both know Gabe, Cas," he says quietly, rubbing a circle on the back. "He can take care of himself. And we can always ask around, call Sammy or Kali."

Cas doesn't say anything but his shoulders relax and he twitches his hand in Dean's which he supposes is one of the many versions of a Novak thank-you. His heart does something funny and he tells him he's welcome to stay the night.

Once they shut down for the day Dean calls Sam to ask if he's seen Gabriel around at all, and if he has then does he look okay, should Cas be worried. Sam tells him not to worry, that Gabriel showed up at his house in the wee hours of the morning and he's been parked on the couch ever since.

"Good," Dean says, tone turning sour as soon as he knows Gabe's safe. "That sonovabitch. Cas's been making himself sick over him and you're telling me he's on your couch watching reruns of Law and Order and poofing up scantily-clad women?"

"Actually, he's been pretty quiet lately," Sam corrects him. "I patched up his leg but he's got a pretty nasty shiner on his eye. Family problems, Cas said?"

"Yeah."

Silence on the other end and Dean feels Sam prodding around in his mind.

"Agh. Dude. Get outta my head."

"Sorry," Sam mutters, but he probably isn't. "But just family problems? Cas made it sound like Gabe got… I don't know, attacked or something."

"Yeah," chuckles Dean wryly. "Glad we aren't that bad."

They exchange parting words and hang up, and Dean goes back out into the living room where Bobby is sitting in his wheelchair and Cas is in the chair next to him, quietly observing Dean. He'd probably been watching him as he talked to Sam. Dean's heart does the girly fluttery thing again and he swats it down again so as not to do something stupid, like burst into song.

"Gabe's fine," he tells Cas, and the anxious man relaxes a little more into the chair. "He's at Sam's house, and he's all patched up and everything."

"Gabriel?" repeats Bobby from his chair. "That asshole-" Castiel bristled- "that stuck you two in the perpetual TV? The one that killed you five hundred times?"

"That would be the one," Dean replies shortly.

"What the hell's he gotten himself into?"

"He didn't _get_ himself into anything," Cas says in a measured tone. "Michael and Luke were fighting and he walked in on the middle of it."

Bobby goes silent. Dean shoots him a look and Cas takes that as a sign to continue.

"Luke got mad at him and burned him and Michael shorted out the power. Frankly I don't want anything to do with them anymore either."

"Well," says Bobby, leaning forward, "Shit. He's alright, you said? Sam's taking care of him for now?"

Dean nods. Bobby runs a hand over his face.

"Jesus. I knew that family had its baggage, but…"

He sighs and raises his eyebrows shortly, then wheels to the kitchen and grabs Dean's keys from the hook by the calendar. Dean and Cas exchange confused glances.

As Bobby's halfway out the door he glares at them like they're absolute morons and shoots a pointed "Well?" over his shoulder.

Dean had never once in his life entertained the thought of going on a cross-country mutant road trip with his brother and their friends. Hell, the notion that that idea even existed had never crossed his mind.

He gets up and takes the keys from Bobby's hand.

"Does this mean you're staying here?" he asks. "There's four seats that have belts in the Impala. Do you really…?"

Bobby nods impatiently.

"I'm fine where I am. Not like I'll find another metal-bending mutant mechanic easily, but the normal ones can't be all that bad," he says with fatherly sincerity. Then his eyes wrinkle at the corners and he frowns. "And hopefully they won't empty the goddamn fridge every other day."

"A man has to eat!" Dean defends himself, but there's no malice in the bickering. It's a goodbye of sorts.

"Take care, kid. And call every once in a while , will ya?" Bobby tells him, face softening. Dean nods and receives a pat on the back.

"Of course."

Dean slips his arms through his jacket and goes to his car. From here he sees Cas, taking one of Bobby's hands and patting it, probably thanking him and wishing him good luck with the garage. Maybe the funny heart thing is something he'll have to get used to.

Crossing the South Dakota state line into Iowa is possibly one of the most liberating experiences of Dean's life. Cas has got to feel it too, and Gabriel, sitting with Sam in the back with his bad leg propped up on Sam's lap.

"So, big boy, you got a plan?" Gabriel pipes up. "I mean, you kidnapped us and took off like a shot, you got any idea where we're headed?"

Dean's enthusiasm takes a swan dive into his stomach. No, he hadn't actually planned anything, but luckily Cas saves him from sharing that fact.

"Westchester, New York," he replies in a businesslike tone. "I heard from a friend that there's a school there. I plan to apply for a teaching position there and if you are welcome to as well if you are interested."

"How 'bout that, Samsquatch?" says Gabriel, prodding him in the side. "Mr. Novak, professor of… professor of what?"

"Obnoxiousness."

"Oh, Sammy. You wound me."

At this point Dean's about ready to pull over to the side of the road but when he looks back in the rearview mirror, Gabriel's tucked into Sam's side like a football and neither of them look uncomfortable. Beside him Cas's eyelids are drooping. Dean finds his hand and gives it a sort squeeze, and gets one back in return. By the time they pass through Des Moines everyone except Dean's nodded off.


	2. Iowa

I come bearing sabriel.

**:::: :::: :::: ::::**

To Sam, Gabriel's mind is a mystery. Which is dumb if you think about it, because Sam's a telepath and everything that goes with that, but it's not that he can't get into Gabriel's head.

It's that he's not quite sure he wants to.

The guy is stranger than a meatloaf in a school cafeteria, and it just adds to their mutant hodgepodge. Take this afternoon, for example, when they'd taken a break for breakfast at a Baker's Square off the side of the road in Riverside.

They sat at a booth, with Dean and Castiel on one side, leaving Sam stuck with Gabriel opposite them. Sam was glad to see Dean and Castiel so comfortable together, because he'd seen enough of their eye-sex to last him a lifetime. Hopefully they'd pulled their shit together when he and Gabe were asleep in the backseat.

Fuck, he was already calling him Gabe.

They skimmed over the menus and decided quickly, starting to discuss their plan of action there at the table before they placed their order.

"Cas says this school," Dean started, pretending to be more skeptical than he really was. "This school, it's for people like us?"

At the last part his voice dropped to a raspy whisper. Which didn't really make any difference, Sam noted vaguely, because all the other customers were either old as balls and half-deaf, dealing with one cranky toddler too many, or too far away to hear. But they ran the risk of being kicked out and chased away if anyone there caught wind that they were, well, mutants.

"Technically it's for younger mutants," Castiel confirmed, his Batman-voice already low enough to be safe, "but yes, it is for 'people like us', as you said. We are too old to attend classes but I have contacted the head of the school and he says that if any of us are interested he would be happy to offer us teaching positions."

Dean snorted.

"Must be pretty desperate if he's offering _us_ of all-"

"You boys decided on anything yet?"

The waitress stood at the head of the table, whipping her notepad out of her apron and fixing them with an impatient look. She was projecting rather loudly, Sam observed with a cringe. It would sure suck for her if the manager found out she was planning on blowing the busboy in the back room after her shift ended.

"Yeah, uh, I'll just have a garden salad," Sam answered quickly, letting the other three recover. Gabriel made an amused noise in the back of his throat before ordering a stack of chocolate-ship pancakes and a chocolate milkshake, extra cherries, please. The waitress snapped her gum and turned to Dean.

"For you, hun?"

"Bacon and eggs, over-easy, white toast. And how's your cherry pie?"

"Take it or leave it."

"Take it."

Castiel looked up awkwardly from his menu, looking like he'd been in the midst of discovering the secrets of being when he was dropped from the heavens into the booth.

"A cheeseburger for me," he said, managing to look both sheepish and completely put-together at the same time. The waitress hopped off and began flirting like nobody's business with the busboy. Sam highly doubted they would make it to the end of her shift without some form of sexual encounter.

"Cas, are you sure this school is, you know, legit?" he asked, getting them back to the subject at hand with a lowered voice while gently prodding the other customers' minds so that they wouldn't notice their conversation. "We could be walking into a hoax. I mean, do you really think there're that many of us out there? Enough to keep a large school running for fifty years?"

There was that sheepish look again. Castiel knew something he hadn't told them.

"I may have visited the campus," he confessed. "I have seen the grounds and I can confirm that there are at least a thousand students currently in attendance, all of them possessing some form of mutation."

Dean gave a low whistle.

"A thousand," he breathed. "I don't think I even know a thousand people."

Sam could practically feel the rays of hope emanating from him, blanketed by a thick curtain of skepticism. It made him sad; Dean had gone most of his life with Dad telling him he wasn't normal, keeping his mutation a secret. Sure, he'd told Sam the same thing, but Sam had Dean to tell him that he wasn't alone. He hadn't been alone, he had his big brother, but who was there to tell Dean? More than anyone he knew, Dean deserved this trip.

The waitress arrived with their orders and they ate in silence, daydreaming about what it would be like at Charles Xavier's.

:::: :::: :::: ::::

When they finish and pay the check they can left, and they piled into the Impala like clowns in a clown car. Gabriel had to lean on Sam because his leg was still screwed six ways to hell but they managed to get into the backseat without much trouble and situate themselves much like they had on their way there, with Gabriel's bad leg propped up on Sam's lap.

Dean and Castiel talked in the front, most likely more about the school but Sam noticed Castiel's hand find its way to rest on Dean's thigh somewhere in the first hour of driving. He may have cracked a smile.

"Be still my heart," Gabriel cooed, gesturing towards the two in the front seat and wiping a fake tear from his eye. "Little Cassie's all grown up."

Dean's head whipped around to flash Gabriel a dirty look but he just responded with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"So, kiddo," he tried again, and it took a moment before Sam realized yes, he was addressing _him. _"What were you up to before you were plucked from the daily grind to go on a groovy mutant road-trip with Tall, Dark and Angsty and his boyfriend the Beige Crusader here?"

Another dirty look from Dean and a threat to turn the car around, but it went ignored.

"Ah," Sam begins with a nervous chuckle. "I was going to law school for a while there but that didn't pan out too well. I ended up working part-time at a library near the school."

"Hadn't pegged you as the sexy librarian type, Sambo."

Sam's cheeks flushed.

"Gabriel. Not like that," he shushed him.

"Relax, kiddo, I'm just yanking your chain," Gabriel reassured him with a good-natured chuckle and a wave of his hand. "Ah. Ouch. Not trying to make you uncomfortable or anything but would you, ah, mind moving my leg a little?"

They got Gabriel's pant leg rolled up to the knee so that the burn was exposed to the air. It was still an angry red and some blisters had popped. It looked pretty clean, for the most part, but like this it just screamed for infection. It would have been great if they could have just stopped for a few minutes at a drugstore and get some ointment but they couldn't afford to stop so soon out of South Dakota. Gently Sam prodded at Gabriel's mind and immediately was assaulted by stinging pain. It was a miracle Gabriel was still his normal, chipper self, and Sam numbed the leg so the sting dulled to an ache.

Gabriel must have noticed, because he turned to Sam with a gentler smile than he'd seen from him thus far.

"Thanks, kiddo," he said quietly, enough for Sam to hear the real gratitude, before leaning into his side and falling asleep.

Dean had one arm around Castiel's shoulders while he drove, letting the quiet man sleep. Sam hazarded another smile before draping an arm across Gabriel, tucking him further into him. He may have liked it a little more than he let on, but then again, did anybody else really have to know?


End file.
